IEEE Industry Connections (IEEE-IC) 3D Body Processing (3DBP) Initiative – An Introduction

The background, goals, and status for the IEEE 3D body processing (3DBP) initiative are introduced in this white paper. This initiative was launched in the first quarter of 2016 with an initial focus on exploring technology standardization opportunities for hardware and software technologies across the “3D body processing” pipeline; i.e., from scanning of people and creating body model data to simulating, modeling, analytics, and visualization. A Virtual Fit use case and relevant 3DBP attributes are examined as an example of a 3D body processing use case. File formats, metadata, and communication protocols are discussed and initial guidance is proposed for evaluating and selecting among existing formats and protocols. While the white paper utilizes examples from an apparel/retail context, it is important to note that the direction taken by the 3DBP initiative is applicable to use cases in otherre industries such as health, wellness, fitness and athletics as well as complementary to adjacent technology ecosystems such as IOT, 5G, AI, fog, and cloud computing.